CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jacob frowned when he read the DNA test results; there was no mistake, he was sure of it.
Yet he felt the need to perform the procedure again.
He waited impatiently for the results to come back.
When they did, he sat down in a state of shock.
Accessing Detective Thornwood's medical chart in the lab's database once again, he double and triple checked every detail against the results.
After eliminating all possibility of sample contamination and confirming the test procedure was sound, the results were irrefutably the same.
He groaned.
What was he going to do?
He looked at the post-it note on his cell phone.
It was Kenzi's number.
He stared at it for five minutes before grabbing his phone and heading outside, locking Lauren's office behind him; the results in his hand.
Kenzi practically jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. "Hello?"
"It's Jacob."
"Well?" Kenzi asked waiting on pins and needles.
"There's a problem." he replied.
Kenzi frowned. "What do you mean there's a problem? What kind of problem?"
"There were some findings I can't go over on the phone."
"What do you mean you can't go over it on the phone?" Kenzi yelled, having waited on pins and needles.
"I can't," Jacob replied. "It's not something... I can't explain it, not like this."
Kenzi took a deep breath, "What can you tell me?"
Jacob looked down at the file he held in his hand, although there was no real reason to do so. He had run the tests, there was no other answer. "I need to speak with Lauren... Dr. Lewis." he corrected.
"But..."
"No Kenzi," he interrupted. "This affects her inasmuch as it affects Miss Dennis. Please don't ask me any more and don't let either of them leave. I just need to pick up one or two things from the archives and I'll be right over."
"So, you're not going to tell me?"
"I can't." he told her.
"Fine," Kenzi huffed. "But you owe me... something. I don't know what yet..."
"I will gladly pay it. I'll see you soon." Jacob quickly gathered the results, his briefcase and went to the archives.
His fingers trailed along the spines of the books until he found the ones he needed and he put them in his briefcase.
He was taking a risk in removing them from the compound, but he knew he had to. He knew Lauren would want to see evidence of what he suspected.
Taking a deep breath, he tugged on his jacket and left the archives nodding at a few guards on his way out.
Once he made it to the parking lot, he headed for Lauren's car as he still had the keys.
He drove away from the compound feeling a huge sigh of relief that he had not been stopped.
He quickly glanced at his watch and pressed down on the accelerator, hopefully he could make it to Miss Dennis' in ten minutes, if he pushed it.
Kenzi put her phone down. This wasn't making any sense and Jacob was being cryptic. She didn't like that either.
This was a major clusterfuck if she's ever seen one.
'Bo slept – healed – whatever, with Dyson,' Kenzi thought.
That part was clear.
Lauren apparently knew about it...
"Oh to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation happened." she said out loud. "Bet she wasn't happy..."
"No. I wasn't." Lauren replied watching Kenzi bolt from her position on the couch.
"What! Do you have some sort of ninja skills you haven't told anyone about?" she yelped.
Lauren smiled briefly. "No, no ninja skills here." she replied as she walked to the couch and sat down. "Where's Jacob?" she asked noticing he was gone.
"He went to the lab... said he'd be right back."
Lauren nodded.
"Are you okay?" Kenzi asked as she retook her seat.
"No, but I have to be..."
"I call bullshit." Kenzi told her. "You don't have be okay... you can be mad, angry, bent out of shape, pissed off, ready to open a can of whoop ass, but you don't have to be okay. Not now."
Lauren wanted to laugh out loud. Kenzi had pinpointed out exactly how she felt. She hadn't told Bo everything, but she did not want to upset her more than she already was.
She might not have anything to do with the pregnancy, but, it was a part of Bo and she did not want anything happening to her.
Still...
"I hate this." she told Kenzi.
"Hell, I would too."
Lauren looked at Kenzi. The Goth's exterior hid a heart as big as the outdoors and a fierce protectiveness unlike anything she'd ever seen before. "Kenzi..."
"Yeah Hot Pants..."
Lauren smirked. "Do you really want me to stay? I mean..."
"Didn't we have this conversation already?"
"Of course," Lauren said looking down at her hands.
Kenzi bit back a harsher retort. She wanted to be kinder to Lauren. She honestly did. She just didn't know how.
With Bo, it was easy. They knew where they stood with each other.
She wasn't sure where she stood with Lauren, not completely.
"Lauren."
Lauren looked up slowly.
Kenzi sighed. "I don't want you to leave. Just, don't make me say it again, I might get sick."
Lauren smiled gratefully. "Did Jacob say how long he'd be?" Lauren asked, unwilling to test the limits of their slightly less antagonistic friendship.
"No, but he did say he had something to tell you and Bo..."
"What about me?" Bo said as she came down the stairs, gazing longingly at Lauren.
"Kenzi was just saying Jacob had something he wants to tell us." Lauren replied.
"So, where is he?" Bo asked noticing he wasn't around.
"You might as well sit down BoBo." Kenzi told her.
"Do you know something we don't?" Bo asked instead. She looked towards Lauren for a moment.
"Well..."
"Out with it Kenz." Bo said frustrated.
Kenzi sighed. She hoped Jake would be back by now. "He ran a DNA test."
"He what?!" Lauren asked surprised. She had not asked him to run one. There was no reason to do one.
"Why?" Bo asked.
"I don't want it to be Dyson's." Kenzi whispered.
"Do you want to say that a bit louder next time?" Bo griped.
Kenzi got up from the couch and stomped into the kitchen. 'My friend.' she thought as she reached for the Vodka bottle.
"That's not going to help," Bo said as she yanked the bottle from Kenzi's grasp.
"Give that back!" Kenzi demanded reaching for the bottle.
Bo held it behind her back, keeping Kenzi at bay. "Not until you tell me what you said!"
"I didn't want it to be his... happy now!" she replied taking the bottle from Bo and drinking from it.
"What..." Bo stumbled back. "I don't understand?"
"Kenzi, what's going on?" Lauren asked as she stepped into the kitchen.
"How do you do it?" Kenzi asked instead.
"Do what?" Lauren replied confused.
Kenzi waved her arms about, not caring that she was spilling her precious drink all over the floor. "I don't get it, how can you be so calm right now?" she looked at Lauren. "How do you do it?"
"Bo..." Lauren stops in mid-sentence and looks to Bo, not knowing what to say or how to react.
"Yeah… come on Kenzi." Bo carefully picked up her best friend.
"Put me down Succumom…" Kenzi protested.
Bo and Lauren both looked in the direction of the front door when they heard a knock.
"Can you get that for me?" Bo asked as she carried Kenzi back into the living room.
"Of course," Lauren replied. She hurried to the door and opened it. "Jacob."
Author's Note:
I wanted to let you know, that chapter 18; which was chapter 12 when I first wrote the story was going to be the end.
But, it was suggested by both my beta readers; EBlane and Kravn, who took over the duties from 18 on, that I really shouldn't end the story the way I originally planned it.
In fact, the story veers off from where I had envisioned it.
I did have a sequel planned, I have 13 chapters already handwritten out, but I can't use them in the way I thought. I have managed to "salvage" some of the text and have been able to use them to continue this story. As of today, March 6th, 2013, I have started chapter 23. Chapters 21 and 22 haven't not been typed out yet. I don't want to stop the flow of the story simply to type.
BUT I will get to it as soon as I can.
Once I finish, truly finish this story, I plan to type out what I had originally wrote. The story still follows this one up to a very specific point.
There are certain scenes in both this story and the sequel that fill never find their way into this version of the story. It will not work.
I had thought about posting it here as "The Blame Game: Deleted Scenes." I'm still thinking about it.
I'll do a poll at the end of this story and we'll all see what happens.
Thanks for the comments.
(whispering) I'm really hoping to get to one hundred reviews. I'm still jazzed to have broken thirty-five.